


Back of Beyond

by fid_gin



Series: The Loved 'verse [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 15:22:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1352299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fid_gin/pseuds/fid_gin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Navigational errors are not the things you want to make when you drop off the woman you love, her mother and your double in bloody Norway</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back of Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> Original posting date: August 31, 2008

Martha's mobile beeped and trilled from its cradle on the TARDIS console, and after four rings the Doctor pulled himself up out of a puddle of rain and blue misery to answer it.

Seeing the display: "Impossible." The phone chirped again, as if to say _'Sorry, no, it's really not.'_ "But that's _impossible_ ," he repeated, nearly shouting, grabbing the phone off the console and contemplating throwing it as right now it was obviously just another device bent on causing him pain, or perhaps an indication that he'd finally lost his mind. The phone just continued to warble, and the Doctor, finally deciding if his mental abberations were so intent upon speaking to him as to _call him on Martha's phone_ , well then perhaps they had something important to say, brought it up to his ear.

"Rose," he answered softly. For a moment there was no reply, only the crackle of an open line and perhaps the screech of a seagull. Then:

"It would appear..." His own voice, or rather, the voice of his double who _should_ be shut away in a parallel universe right now with the woman _he_ loved, saved and happy with only the slightest inkling of what exactly he'd sacrificed for him. "...that you have left us in your universe's Norway," he finished, and the Doctor's hearts ceased thundering in his ears long enough for him to hear the faint female voice in the background.

"Tell him his driving skills haven't improved any," Rose urged the other Doctor.

****

They'd walked for over an hour before reaching a town, Jackie frantically trying to get Pete on her mobile while the Doctor and Rose held hands and tried not to notice the curious glances each was casting toward the other. "What's he say, Mum?" Rose called ahead to the older woman after she'd turned off her phone with a curse.

"It's weird," Jackie said. "Keep getting a recording that the number's not in service. You don't think Deana'd forget to pay the bill, do you?" Deana was less like a maid and more like a friend to Jackie, and she entrusted her with every little detail that, after 20 years as a single mother, she had no interest in handling herself anymore - bills and finances and groceries.

"Let me see it," the Doctor offered, fumbling in his jacket pocket for a moment, then looking embarrassed and shaking his head when Jackie turned and offered the phone to him. "Ah...nevermind. No sonic screwdriver."

When they finally reached an Inn, Jackie tried again on their office phone, with the same result. "Oooh, I'm going to kill that woman," she muttered.

"Doctor," Rose said, turning to him just in time to catch the slightly surprised and pleased look on his face at her using his name. "This may sound stupid, but...well, the thing is, last time when you met us here, yeah? The TARDIS wasn't translating, because it wasn't in the same universe anymore."

"Makes sense," he agreed.

Rose gestured over her shoulder to where Jackie was arguing with the man behind the counter. "So...why's he speaking English?" 

The Doctor's eyes followed her indication, and they both turned just in time to hear the man say: "Pete Tyler? Never heard of 'im."

"Well how 'bout the President of bloody Britain, who's a personal friend of my husband's? Can you get him on the phone for me, then?" The innkeep eyed her suspiciously.

"Lady, I don't know what your game is, but I think you'd all better go." Rose stepped forward.

"Why? What is it?"

"Look, I'm not going to stand here arguing your own country's political system with you, but if you think I'm stupid enough to forget that England's got a Prime Minister, not a President, then I think we'd better part ways hadn't we?" 

Rose slowly turned back to the Doctor, realization dawning across both their wide-eyed, open-mouthed faces, just as Jackie burst into tears. _"He's left us in the wrong universe,"_ they spoke at the same time.

****

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, and immediately a hand flew forward and slapped him, hard, across the cheek, sending him reeling backwards. "One of those," Jackie shouted, following him, her hand still upraised, "Every five minutes till you get me back to my baby and my husband!" Rose and the other Doctor closed the doors softly behind them.

"Right! Yes! Of course!" Running to the console, madly twirling dials and flipping levers and the TARDIS rocked and groaned with the abrupt effort. He looked Very Busy complying with Jackie's orders, not acknowledging the other two of them where they stood, akimbo, regarding him silently. Rose looked around the room, took in his wet, discarded suit jacket, his damp shirt and soaked hair. She stepped forward to the console, opposite him.

"Where's Donna?" He continued fiddling with the controls. _"Doctor."_

Finally he looked up into her eyes, his face thunderous. "She's gone." Rose nodded; she didn't need to know any more than that, really.

The TARDIS gave a violent lurch that Rose didn't remember it exhibiting the last time he'd tried to take them back, then settled, reluctantly. The Doctor pulled one monitor over to him. "Right then, here we are! _Dårlig ulv stranden_ \- _Molto Bene!_ " He ran toward the door, stopping when he noticed only one of the three passengers following him. Rose stood, still as a statue, leaning against the TARDIS console while the Doctor in the blue suit mirrored her posture against one of the nearby pillars. _"Allons-y?"_ the Doctor urged, his voice squeaking slightly.

"We're not going anywhere," Rose said defiantly, tilting her chin up a bit. The Doctor's shoulders slumped.

"Rose..." he said, his voice now strained and exhausted.

"Not so easy to blind-side me when I know what you plan to do, is it Doctor?"

"What are you talking about?" Jackie stormed back through the doors, and Rose finally moved, crossing to her.

"We're staying, Mum. Me'n him," gesturing toward the other Doctor where he still leaned. The Doctor in his brown trousers and shirtsleeves opened and closed his mouth, silently, looking from daughter to mother.

"Don't be ridiculous," Jackie said, shaking her head. "All your life is here."

Rose smiled. "My life's with him. Them. Whatever." She took her mother's hands in hers. "Tell Tony I love him."

"Tell him yourself!" 

The TARDIS hummed, and the Doctor sort of bounced on the soles of his feet. "We have to go," he said urgently.

"We?" the other Doctor asked.

"Well I'm not carrying you both out," the Doctor snapped back.

Jackie began to cry again as Rose wrapped her arms around her. "S'alright, we'll find a way to come back and visit, I promise."

"That's..." the Doctor started.

"Impossible, yeah, I know," Rose finished for him. "Don't think I quite believe your definition of 'impossible' anymore, all right?" She turned her attention back to her mother. "I love you, Mum."

"Love you, too, sweetheart." Jackie turned and stepped through the TARDIS doors again out onto the sand, her mobile up to her ear, and just before the doors shut Rose heard her talking. "Pete? You're not gonna believe where I need you to come pick me up..."

Rose took a deep breath and turned to face the two identical Doctors, both of them seeming to look to her for direction. "Right," she said shakily, holding her head up high. "Where to first?"


End file.
